Yahoo snags star New York Times columnist as it plans consumer tech site

In a Yahoo coup, the Internet giant has snagged the longtime, popular and often hilarious tech reviewer David Pogue from the New York Times, to spearhead the launch of new consumer tech site.

“Actually, ‘site’ doesn’t even cover it,” Pogue wrote on his Tumblr page. “I’ll be writing columns and blog posts each week, of course, and making my goofy videos. But my team and I have much bigger plans, too, for all kinds of online and real-world creations.”

It remains to be seen what those precise plans are. But Pogue provides instant credibility, and delivers a devoted audience, to whatever service they create. At the same time, the world of tech blogging is an incredibly competitive and crowded space, with AllThingsD, GigaOM, TechCrunch, The Verge, Wired and many, many others all battling for eyeballs.

“Yahoo is in a unique position to bring to life great editorial about the technology consumers are using every day,” Marissa Mayer, chief executive of Yahoo, said on Tumblr. “David is tremendously talented, has a great sense of humor, and is one of the best technology experts I’ve ever encountered. I can’t think of a more perfect person to make technology more accessible and helpful for the hundreds of millions of people who come to Yahoo every day.”